Rays Surge Past Greenville In 7-5 Thriller

The South Carolina Stingrays (33-26-2-1) raced past the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (35-24-4-1) in a wild back-and-forth contest by a score of 7-5 on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Olivier Archambault had a hat trick for South Carolina on nine shots in the win, while Andrew Cherniwchan scored twice and both Patrick Gaul and Patrick Megannety had two assists.

The offensive outburst was the second-highest scoring performance of the season for the Stingrays. Their highest also came against Greenville in an 8-2 win back on Dec. 10.

Archambault notched his first goal to give the Rays a 1-0 lead at 9:45 of the first period. In what was the only goal of the frame, Gaul slid the puck over to Archambault on a 2-on-1 rush for a shot that beat Greenville goalie Brandon Halverson. Forward Patrick Megannety started the rush by blocking a shot in the defensive zone before getting the puck out to Gaul for the opportunity and earned the second assist on the play.

At 3:47 of the second Archambault made it 2-0 Stingrays with a goal off the rush from Wade Epp. The Montreal, Que. native unleashed a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Halverson glove side.

Greenville had the advantage in play during the middle part of the frame and were able to get even at 2-2 with goals from Tristan King at 9:08 and Tommy Thompson at 11:15.

Archambault struck for the third time in the game to complete a hat trick at 12:30 of the second to give the Stingrays a 3-2 advantage. The forward put home a loose puck that was sitting at the side of the crease, once again with assists from Gaul and Megannity.

Later in the period, Cherniwchan scored twice in less than three minutes to increase the SC lead to 5-2. The forward first deflected a pass from Rob Flick past Halverson at 15:05 before taking it upon himself to fire home his second consecutive tally with a shot off the rush at 18:02.

Cheriwchan’s second goal was assisted by defenseman Cody Corbett, giving the newest member of the Rays his first point in an SC sweater.

The three-goal lead didn’t last long for South Carolina as Greenville scored three times in the first seven minutes of the third frame to get back in the game and even the score once again.

The goals came from Angelo Miceli at 3:48, Allan McPherson at 5:20 and King for his second of the night at 6:25.

With the game tied at 5-5, rookie forward Steven McParland became the hero, scoring the game-winning tally at 10:40 of the final period. After a defensive misplay by the Swamp Rabbits in their own zone, the puck came to McParland in between the circles. The forward didn’t wait long before shooting low, underneath Halverson for his 19th of the season and a 6-5 lead.

The Stingrays did not allow anything else from Greenville in the second half of the period and captain Joe Devin iced the victory with an empty-net strike for his 12th goal of the season at 18:52.

Parker Milner picked up the victory for South Carolina by making 22 saves in the game while Halverson took the loss for the Swamp Rabbits, stopping 24 shots.

Just two penalties were called in the contest, both coming to the Stingrays in the first period, four seconds apart from each other. However, Greenville was unable to score on their ensuing 5-on-3 advantage and finished 0-for-2 with the power play on the night.

South Carolina will continue their schedule this week with a three-game series against the Atlanta Gladiators. The stretch begins Wednesday night in Atlanta at 7:05 before the two teams return to North Charleston for the next two contests. Both Friday and Saturday’s games at the North Charleston Coliseum begin at 7:05 p.m.

Single-game tickets for all Stingrays games during the 2016-17 season are on sale now at the North Charleston Coliseum Box Office and ticketmaster.com.

Ticket packages and Groups of 10 or more are on sale now featuring discounted pricing and great benefits. The first 2,000 fans through the doors at Saturday’s game receive a free Stingrays wall poster! For more information or to place an order call the Stingrays front office at 843-744-2248 or stop by 3300 W. Montague Ave. Suite A-200 during business hours.